In a variety of medical products it is required to provide fast connecting means for connecting fluid transferring tubes to one another, for connecting tubes to branching devices and to different medical devices, as well as to a variety of flow control valves, etc.
For these and many other purposes, a variety of luer-type connectors are commonly utilized, which connectors provide on the one hand fast connecting and disconnecting, and on the other hand, provide reasonable reliability and security which is a critical requirement of such connectors to prevent un-intentional disconnection between the components, which under certain circumstances may be fatal for the patient or for the medical staff which may be exposed to contaminated body fluids. Still another problem which may occur in a connector non-tightly coupled is entry of air into the system which may be fatal.
Luer-type connectors are thus commonly in use. Various designs of luer-type connectors are available in which a tapered nozzle of a male-component is dimensioned to snugly, frictionally fit into a tapered socket of a female-component of the fitting, with a collar member rotatably retained over the male component and adapted for screw coupling with an annular threaded flanged portion of the female-component.
A variety of luer-type connectors are available and special consideration has been given to increased connecting force which at times may be required, e.g. to facilitate high pressure fluid flow through the connection and to prevent ingress of air into the system or, for extra precaution to prevent leakage of high risk fluids such as contaminated body fluids. However, excessive rotational force applied to the collar may eventually lead to disengagement of the collar from the male-component, entailing de-coupling of the connection which may result in a hazardous outcome.
In particular, the problem of disengagement of the collar from the male-component may occur while transferring fatty solutions which have a lubricating effect on the coupling, or even in case of unintentional excessive force applied to the collar, e.g. in case of stress of the medical staff. Evenmore, silicone oil is often applied at the zone of the selecting valve of such connectors.
Several attempts have been made to prevent unintentional disengagement of the rotatable collar from the male component. Such U.S. Pat. Nos. are for example: 4,296,949; 4,452,473; 4,639,019; 5,047,021; 5,303,964; 5,620,427; and 5,702,374.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a luer-type connector in of the aforementioned type with an improved male-component wherein locking of the male and female components is improved.